I’m writing this at the close of National Voter Registration Day, which was Tuesday September 17. It’s an occasion that simply should not exist. Voter registration should not be an obstacle to voting. It should be a responsibility of the government, not the voter, to keep the rolls of eligible voters. That’s how it’s done in most democratic nations. That’s how it should be done here.
Things are somewhat better now than they used to be. Twenty-four states (plus the District of Columbia) have adopted automatic registration schemes, and an overlapping but not identical group of twenty-two states and DC have same-day voter registration. Most, but not all, of both kinds of plans have been implemented by Democrats. Still, at the end of the day even in those states the burden is on the voter, not the state. Only North Dakota, which doesn’t have voter registration at all and manages just fine that way, completely removes the burden from voters.
For a long time, many states didn’t have voter registration. It’s true that states adopted it during a time of rapid urbanization…but it’s more true that states adopted it during a period of heavy immigration in the late 19th and early 20th century as a hurdle to make it harder for the “wrong” citizens to vote. It seems to have been successful.
Of course, as with many obstacles to the vote, such as Voter ID, it’s possible for sufficiently determined citizens to overcome them. But if you have to be determined to vote, then that’s a form of a tax (either in time or money or both). and no one should be subjected to a poll tax. It’s also a real disincentive to get more involved in politics than just-plain-voting, because everyone’s resources are limited and the more difficult voting is, the less we all have available for more complex forms of politics.
And that’s even if the tax is applied equally to all eligible voters, which isn’t necessarily the case. Forcing voters to be responsible for registering, for example, is a heavier burden on new voters, on those who move and therefore have to re-register more often, and on those with less education and less attachment to their communities. Infrequent voters, too, bear more of a burden, since depending on state rules and enforcement their registration may go inactive even if they don’t move. All of that means that younger, poorer voters have higher burdens than older, more wealthy voters. There’s simply no justification for that.1
I’m not quite an absolutist on this, but I’m certainly on Team Everyone Votes. In my view, democracy requires as close to universal suffrage as we can get while making acually voting far easier than it is in the US.2 In some cases I’ll admit that there are competing worthwhile values involved; for example, the long ballot caused by federalism and the multiplicity of offices at various levels makes voting harder, but also allows meaningful politics at a more human-scaled level than national politics can be in a very large nation.3
But voter registration? This is something that the US just does worse than other democracies, and for no legitimate democratic reasons.
So I hope y’all (if you are US citizens) have taken the responsibility seriously and made sure you are registered to vote. But it really shouldn’t be like that.
At one point, some 20 to 30 years ago, most of the markers here were fairly highly correlated with voting for Democrats. That’s no longer the case, meaning that removing voter registratiion as a hurdle wouldn’t necessarily have predictable partisan effects.
On eligibility: I’d lower the voting age by at least four years, and make not only ex-felons but current felons eligible, and I’d think long and hard about long-time legal residents, too.
And yes, I know that federalism introduces its own set of democratic problems. This stuff is complicated!
From your footnote: " meaning that removing voter registratiion as a hurdle wouldn’t necessarily have predictable partisan effects." I thought it was pretty well established (or at least admitted by the GOP) that if everyone voted, the GOP would never win another national office. Are you saying this isn't true?
Thanks for this. When I read that the AZ Supreme Court removed 100k voters for lack of proof of citizenship, I was both appalled tho not shocked. I don’t remember having to prove my citizenship for my first vote on my birthday in the Ohio (home state) primary that year. Having lived in 2 other states and now DC for 46 years, again I don’t remember. Is it a check box affirming?
ND: yes I’ll go read more. Maybe tell all who read this how they do it.
AZ: I couldn’t find whether they contacted all removed or if even 1/4 of those people show up and are told they aren’t registered, does AZ have provisional ballots?
I view voting as a sacred right and responsibility and it’s been made far too difficult for people - older, disabled, those with carer responsibilities, those who work multiple jobs. It shouldn’t be so.